Retort for distilling carbonaceous materials



Aug.a 4, 1925.

A. GIGER RETORT Fon DISTILLING cARBoNACEoUs MATERIALS Filed June 28,1922 INVENTOR. ALbcRT GmcR Y/M Wd ATTORNEYS.

Patentedl Aug. 4, 1925.

ALBERT Glenn, oF VANCOUVER, BarrIsH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

RETOBT FOR DISTILLING CABBONACEOUS MATERQLS.

Application, mea :une as, 1922. senin No. 511,481."

To all rwhom t may cmw'em:

Beit known that I, ALBERT GIGER, a citizen of the United States,residing'in the city of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia,Canada, have invented cert-ain new and useful Improvements in Retortsfor Distilling Carbonaceous Materials, 0f which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to an improvement inwmethods `for distillingby-products from carbonaceous material and apparatus therefore, and theobject of the invention is to devise quick means whereby all thebyproductsmay be carried off by a continuous operation from carbonaccousmaterial and so that such by-products will be drawn off in separateclasses according as they are more or less volatile and to provide asimple apparatus by which-the'operation may be vcarried out, andconsists essentially of a plurality of individual retort chambersarranged in a battery with a single feed device common to all, as willbemore fully described in the following specification in which- Fig. 1is a front View of my retort apparatus showing a cutaway portion toexpose the feed'mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken on the line 2 2.

In the drawings like'characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in each figure. Y

The numerals 1, 2, 3 and 4 indicate in general, a plurality of retortchambers each of which consist of a lower casing 5 formed substantiallyV shaped in transverse section, see Fig. 2, having a circularcouplingneck or flange connection 6 at the base of the V, a pair ofvertical side walls 7 and 8, a front wall 9 Vand a rear wall '10. 11-411are brackets upon the wall 9 and 10 for-supporting'each of the chambers1, 2, 3 and 4 ...1n

suitable brickwork. 12 represents a horizontal flange at the upper edgeof the walls 7, 8, 9 and 10 for the attachment of the upper casing 13 tothe lower casing 5.

13 represents the upper casing of the chambers 1, 2, 3 and 4, which eachconsist of a flange 14, vertical side walls 15 `and 16, sloping frontwall 17 and a sloping rear wallv 18, the walls 17 and 18 converge attheir upper edges as at 19 to form a closure of the top of the casin 13.20 are a plurality of pipes leading rom the top of each of the chambers1,2, 3 and 4 for the purpose of taking oill the gases therefrom.

21 indicates a plurality of pyrometers, one of whlch inserted through awall in the upper casl'ng 13 of each of the chambers 1, 2, 3 and 4, thatthe temperature ther e1n may. be under constant observation. 22 1s a..spiral conveyor shaft extending lengthwlse of the base of each of thechambers 1, 2, 3 and 4 and through stuffing boxes 23 and is journalledin suitable bearings ad- )acent each end thereof. 24 indicates a gearwheel keyed to the shaft 22 by which, in conjunction with suitablepower, the shaft 22 is rotated to continuously propel the material fromthe feed hopper 25 through the several chambers. In ,order to providefor the formation of a gas tight seal between the several retortchambers, thescrew 22 is made of a diameter approximately equal to theinside diameter of the connecting necks 6 while the pitch of the screwis lessthan the inside length of the connectingneck between any twochambers with the result that the material passing from one chamber toanother acts in conjunctionV with the screw and the surroundlng wall ofthe neck cou ling to establish the necessary gas tight sea intermediatethe chambers between which the material is passing. In this way, thegases produced in one retort are positively prevented from mixing withgases in adjacent retorts.

25 is a hopper connected to the flange connection 6 of the first chamberby suitable fittings, through which the material to be treated is fed.26 is a pipe through which the residue from the retort is discharged.

27 represents one of a. plurality of furnaces, see Fig. 2, which isconstructed of suitable brickwork and into the top of which they lowercasing 5 of one of the chambers 1, 2, 3 or 4 project, there being onefurnace for each of the several' chambers that a substantial differencein temperature may be maintained in each of the chambers during allrunning periods.

Having thus described the principal parts of the apparatus by which mymethod is carried out, I will now briefly explain the operation of thedistillation of Various byproducts from coal', though it will be readilyunderstood that other hydro-carbone can be distilled with equalefficiency and-in a similar manner.

. a The feed screw conveyor 221s set 1n motion at a desired speed andcoal is fed into the hopper 25 and on its reaching thescrew it.is'carried across the base of retorts 1P, 2, 3 and 4 maintaining a depththerein substantially equal to the diameter of they screw. The furnaceunder chamber 1 is perature, so that the oils such as carbolic,

phenol and napthaline are vgiven ofi' as" vapour and pass outward of theretort.

Each successive chamber is'maintained at a greater degree of heat thanthe preceding one and in consequence, gases of a diii'erent subclass aretaken therefrom, each producing a less volatile gas and liquid than theprevious one. By the use of my retort, material is being constantly fedfrom one chamber to another, each of which are of widely varyingtemperatures and as the quantity of materialfed into and out of eachchamber is of small and constant volume, it will be readily seen thatthe rise of temperature must be instantaneous and that no other gasescan be given 01T in any one chamber excepting those required to form adesired subclass.

It will `thus be apparent that my retort is continuous in operation vandis capable of distilling by-products from' hydro-carbon bases and ofsegregating such by-products into as many different subclasses as thereare chambers to the retort, at the same time accomplishing this resultin a highly satisfactory manner.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A retort chamber for thel distillation of carbonaceous materialscomprising a pair The residue from 1,548,307'v v e ing together and,connected at their lower edges, to form the bottom of the chamber, apair of couplingfnecks extending outward] -from the said side wallsy anddisposed wit f Y ,i "of side walls, front and rear walls convergly equalto the inside diameter of said necks A and a gas collecting domesurmounting said walls and forming the top ofthe chamber. 2. A retortchamber according to-claim 1, in which said gas collecting dome com-'prises a pair of end walls o? inverted V- shape, a pair of sloping sidewalls converging together and connected along their upper edges t0 formthe top of the dome, said side, front and rea-r walls of the dome beingmounted upon and secured to the corresponding lower wall portions of theretort chamber to form continuations thereof.

3. A retort for the distillation of carbonaceous materials comprising amaterial receiving chamber including vertical side walls, front and rearwalls converging together and connected at their lower edges to form thebottom of the said chamber, a continuous fiange formed integral with theupper edges of said walls in combination i with a vapor dome comprisingvertical side walls, front and rear walls converging together andconnected at their upper edges to form the top of the dome and a flangeformed integral with the lower edges of the dome walls adapted to besecured to the first mentioned flange, said material receiving chamberbeing provided with inlet and outlet passages for the material and saiddome being evolve in the process of distillation.

Dated at Vancouver, B. C., this 7th day of June, 1922.

ALBERT GIGER.

' Witnesses:

H. DOUGLAS, ERNEST E. CARVER.

provided with an outlet for the gases

